Adaptation to climate change in Europe

Adapting to the impacts and consequences of climate change is becoming an urgent need for countries all over the world, including in Europe.

The global average temperature has already increased by 1°C above pre-industrial levels, exposing countries all over the world to the severe impacts of a changing climate. Europe is also experiencing an increasing level of climate change impacts.

Due to its geography and respective landmass, the global temperature change means a temperature warming across Europe by nearly 2°C, imposing serious negative climate impacts.

Climate-related events such as drought, extreme storms, and sea-level rise are set to get more frequent and more forceful, imposing major consequences for the European economy; the European Environment Agency estimates costs up to €120 billion per year under a 2°C warming scenario, and up to €200 billion per year under a 3°C warming scenario.

It is against this backdrop that the EU and its Member States will need to work more collectively and pro-actively to enhance adaptation to climate change in Europe.

CAN Europe tracks the efforts of the EU and its Member States to design and implement effective climate adaptation plans that will protect all sectors of our society.

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Through the adoption and ratification of the Paris Agreement, the EU has committed to “limit global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and of pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels." Read more

Latest Publications

On 22 January 2019 and in February the REGI Committee will vote on the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR) and on the European Regional Development Fund / Cohesion Fund Regulation (ERDF/CF) respectively. These two pieces of legislation will determine the shape and direction of Cohesion Policy post-2020.

Through this letter sent to Ministers of Finance we demand that the 10 countries negotiating the world's first regional Financial Transactions Tax do not abandon the talks at a European finance ministers' meeting on December 4th. By walking away from the talks, we could lose out on billions that could go towards climate change and the fight against domestic and international poverty.

This briefing concerns the draft EU Long-Term Strategy. It explains that while setting a net zero by 2050 target would be a clear improvement as compared to the current roadmap, it would likely not be sufficient to meet the EU’s fair share of efforts to keep temperature rise below 1.5°C.